EPA Negotiations: Where do we stand? - West Africa - last update : 26 May 2009

State of play

In the West African region, Ghana initialled an interim agreement in December 2007 and Cote d'Ivoire signed an interim agreement on 26 November 2008. As part of the ratification process of these agreements, on the EU side, the European Parliament gave its formal approval ("assent") to the conclusion of the interim agreement with Cote d'Ivoire on 24 March 2009.

Negotiations towards a full regional EPA, which would supersede the interim agreements, are continuing in 2009 and aim at concluding by June 2009.

Issues that are reportedly close to agreement after the last technical negotiation rounds on 24-27 March and 20-24 April 2009 include the EPA text on trade in goods, dispute settlement, general exceptions, institutions and final provisions.

The main outstanding issues in the negotiations relate to the West African market access offer on trade in goods, rules of origin and development cooperation.
With respect to market access in goods, the elaboration of a regional list of sensitive products and the adoption of an ECOWAS Common External Tariff have proven to be challenging. Following the necessary regional preparations on these issues, West Africa has tabled a regional market access offer in February 2009, on which the EC has submitted comments. Further discussion is needed among the parties on the interpretation of WTO GATT article XXIV, with respect to the extent of liberalisation required and the length of the transition period.
On rules of origin, West Africa is requesting further simplification. Negotiations are progressing in this area.
Further discussion is needed also on the chapter on development cooperation. The region has prepared an EPA development programme (PAPED) to address development needs arising from an EPA, which it aims to include in the EPA as an annex.
Another issue remaining to be discussed further is the inclusion of commitments on trade in services.
West African ministers on 12-15 May 2009 called for contentious issues to be resolved as soon as possible at the highest political level.

For the next joint negotiations, West Africa has promised to table an improved market access offer based on the EC comments. A series of meetings on rules of origin will also be continued in view of solving the divergences on the draft protocol.

-> For details on the current negotiations, please consult our monthly EPA negotiations update.

Trade regime from 1 January 2008

Interim agreements were concluded between the EC and Cote d'Ivoire and Ghana , two of the four non-LDCs in the region.

The remaining non-LDCs, Nigeria and Cape Verde, did not inital an interim agreement.
Nigeria has been exporting to the EU under the standard GSP regime since 1 January 2008. A request to be included into the GSP+ scheme was rejected in a decision by the EC on 9 December 2008 because Nigeria has not ratified the United Nations Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, which is part of the requirements to benefit from GSP+ preferences .
Cape Verde is classified as a non-LDC from 1 January 2008 , but it will be able to export to the EU under the EBA regime for a transition period of at least three years.

The LDCs Benin, Burkina Faso , Gambia , Guinea , Guinea Bissau, Liberia, Mali , Mauritania , Niger , Senegal , Sierra Leone and Togo export under the EBA initiative since 1 January 2008 .

Interim agreement with Cote d'Ivoire

Text of the agreement:
Accord de partenariat économique d'étape entre la Côte d'Ivoire, d'une part, et la Communauté européenne et ses États membres, d'autre part, Journal officiel de l'Union européenne, 3 mars 2009
English version:
Stepping stone Economic Partnership Agreement between Côte d'Ivoire, of the one part, and the European Community and its Member States, of the other part, Official Journal of the European Union, 3 March 2009

Summary of the agreement:
"Market Access Schedule
The coverage of liberalisation of Ivory Coast offer is 80.8% of the EC imports in value and 88.7% in tariff lines over 15 years, and over 10 years is 69.8% of the EC imports in value and 83.9% in tariff lines. All sectors are covered.

Coverage
The Agreement covers all major provisions of a trade in goods agreements such as provisions on custom duties, export taxes, a standstill clause, a non discrimination clause, trade defence instruments (anti-dumping and countervailing measures, multilateral and bilateral safeguards), special provisions on administrative cooperation in custom matters, a chapter on custom and trade facilitation, a chapter on technical barriers to trade and sanitary and phytosanitary measures as well as exception clauses.
The respective offers of the parties are set out in annexes attached to the agreement. The agreement also contains an annex on mutual administrative assistance in custom matters.
The Agreement provides that each party will apply its rules of origin in force on 01/01/08 and, in parallel, will negotiate rules of origin to be annexed to the Agreement by 01/07/2008 at the latest.

Other components
This Agreement focuses on safeguarding the market access of Ivory Coast to the EC on 01/01/2008 and avoids trade disruption which could have an important negative economic impact for this country. It hence focuses on trade in goods aspects.
The Agreement is accompanied by a political declaration and contains a preamble reaffirming the objective of concluding a global EPA with all West African countries and regional organisations. Commitment to regional integration is also reasserted. A specific Title in the Agreement identifies broad areas on which negotiations will continue in perspective of concluding a global EPA with the whole region (services, investment, competition, intellectual property, public procurement, sustainable development, protection of personal data).
The Agreement contains a Title on Development Cooperation covering priority areas of development cooperation for accompanying the implementation of this Agreement. The main areas identified are the reinforcement and upgrading of productive sectors, the cooperation in respect to fiscal adjustment, to foster the improvement of business climate, and the implementation of trade rules contained in the Agreement. The parties agree to cooperate in these areas notably in the context of the Cotonou Agreement.
Finally, the agreement contains a detailed dispute settlement mechanism, as well as general, final and institutional provisions." (Summary provided by the European Commission)

Interim agreement with Ghana

Summary of the agreement:
" Ivory Coast invited Ghana as an observer to its negotiations on the stepping stone EPA. Negotiations with Ghana have thus been conducted on the basis of the text and market access offer agreed with Ivory Coast . There are only few differences between the two texts of the Agreement. The market access offers of Ivory Coast and Ghana , however, contain some differences (e.g. cars liberalized by Ghana and not Ivory Coast ; aluminium liberalized by Ivory Coast and not Ghana ).

Market Access Schedule
The coverage of liberalisation of Ghana offer is 80.48% of the EC imports in value and 80.01% in tariff lines over 15 years, and over 10 years is 62.24% of the EC imports in value and 72.81 in tariff lines. All sectors are covered.

Agreement (goods)
The Agreement covers all major provisions of a trade in goods agreements such as provisions on custom duties, export taxes, a standstill clause, a non discrimination clause, trade defence instruments (anti-dumping and countervailing measures, multilateral and bilateral safeguards), special provisions on administrative cooperation in custom matters, a chapter on custom and trade facilitation, a chapter on technical barriers to trade and sanitary and phytosanitary measures as well as exception clauses.
The respective offers of the parties are set out in annexes attached to the agreement. The agreement also contains an annex on mutual administrative assistance in custom matters.
The Agreement provides that each party will apply its rules of origin in force on 01/01/08 and, in parallel, will negotiate rules of origin to be annexed to the Agreement by 31/03/2008 at the latest.

Agreement (other components)
This Agreement focuses on safeguarding the market access of Ghana to the EC on 01/01/2008 and avoids trade disruption which could have an important negative economic impact for this country. It hence focuses on trade in goods aspects.
The Agreement is accompanied by a political declaration and contains a preamble reaffirming the objective of concluding a global EPA with all West African countries and regional organisations. Commitment to regional integration is also reasserted. A specific Title in the Agreement identifies broad areas on which negotiations will continue in perspective of concluding a global EPA with the whole region (services, investment, competition, intellectual property).
The Agreement contains a Title on Development Cooperation covering priority areas of development cooperation for accompanying the implementation of this Agreement. The main areas identified are the reinforcement and upgrading of productive sectors, the cooperation in respect to fiscal adjustment, to foster the improvement of business climate, and the implementation of trade rules contained in the Agreement. The parties agree to cooperate in these areas notably in the context of the Cotonou Agreement.
Finally, the agreement contains a detailed dispute settlement mechanism, as well as general, final and institutional provisions." (Summary provided by the European Commission)

Relevant documents and websites